April 25th: Off to the Ruins

We have scheduled a tour tomorrow at 9am to get the most out of this experience.

Breakfast comes with our room and it is in the same restaurant so we sip coffee, eat a great breakfast and go to meet our guide.  Our guide is a delight and we travel by the new Marathon stadium.  Built in 1896 for the first modern Olympics it serves as the finish for the marathon each year.  Who knew there is a city near Athens names Marathone and of course the run is a tribute to the runner from Athens that ran to announce victory in the war and died from the efforts.  It is made from marble and everywhere marble is used for a building material. 

OK, we are at the Acropolis and it is already busy with school children and tourist but it will get worse because there is a cruise ship in the harbor and they are scheduled to visit in an hour or two.  We learn that The Acropolis is not just in Athens but all Ancient Greek cities have a Acropolis which is a defensive position, on a cliff where the citizens are able to go in the event of an attack or other emergency.  There are many buildings on the Acropolis as we climb to the top.  

On our right is an ancient wall and pillars with new looking seating of marble in an amphitheater.  Used today for concerts and we remember seeing some productions from artists such as Pavarotti and Yanni.  That would be so cool to see a concert and with the right seat, see the concert and the Parthenon at the same time!  To the top we go.  

There are many things to see and to remember it all is impossible.  But perhaps a couple make a special impression.  It seems the god of the sea, Poseidon and the goddess Athena were in a tussle over what to name the new city.  The mightiest god of all, Zeus, told them to offer a gift to the city and have the Twelve Gods of Olympus decide who should have Domination.  Poseidon struck his trident into the rock and a well of seawater appeared.  Athena gave the gift of the first olive tree and with that won the votes and the city was named Athens after her.  And so, a real olive was planted in the location of the legend.  Of course the Acropolis is dominated by the beautiful Parthenon.  

Not the largest or oldest of  the buildings, the Parthenon from the classical time is seen and was built taking advantage of all they had learned to create the perfect edifice worthy of the gods.  Rather than just build a square building with right angles and perfectly spaced columns and level floors, the building was built to please the eye.  The columns tilt slightly inward, the floor has a slight curve, the columns toward the corners are a bit closer and no two columns are exactly the same.  All give the appearance of being perfect to the eye and indeed it is perfection.  Intricate designs decorate doorways and columns with designs still used extensively in new building all over the world.  Much was lost when the British blew up explosives being kept in the Parthenon by the Turks and the explosion blew out the walls and some ceiling.  Writings tell of thin cut marble over the arch to the Parthenon that allowed filtered light into the walkway and the Parthenon itself had beautiful colors on the walls.  

We travel down and the crowd has hit.  We learned this, if few ever come again we will hit this place at 7am!  Our tour continues to the Plaka at the foot of the rock where lies the oldest neighborhood and old diggings where people are still working to discover more history.  This is a fascinating city with so much to soak in we must read about what we saw when we return home.  But the lasting picture we will all hold in our minds is looking across at the Acropolis from our hotel rooftop and thinking; “We were actually here.  This is the place where Alexander the Great was taught by Aristotle, where Socrates and Plato used reason to replace superstition, where the foundations of democracy was founded, where geometry was developed and the heavens studied”.  We leave for an early flight to home but one last look before we hit the pillow.